The government on Monday announced a total of 11 stadiums, eight of
which are the primary venues, included in a candidacy file for the 2012
Euro football championship.

The venues include the Athens Olympic Stadium (OAKA), which hosted the
opening and closing ceremonies of the 2004 Olympics as well as the
Games' athletic events, along with the new Karaiskaki stadium in the
southern Athens coastal district of Faliro. The latter serves as the
home field of the Olympiakos Piraeus football team and hosted many of
the quarter- and semi-final soccer matches during last year's Summer
Olympics.

Another four stadiums listed in the bid - Pankritio in Irakleio, Crete;
Panthessaliko in Volos, central Greece; the Patra National Stadium in
western Greece, and Kaftatzoglio in the northern city of Thessaloniki -
also hosted preliminary Olympic soccer matches last year.

Another two primary venues are located in the mainland cities of
Ioannina (northwest Greece) and Larissa (central Greece). The three
alternate venue sites are located in the northern town of Serres, the
well-known Toumba pitch in Thessaloniki, the home field for PAOK
Thessaloniki, as well as a sports complex in the under-developed
Votanikos district of central Athens -- a facility that is projected as
the home field for the Panathinaikos Athens club.

According to the candidacy file unveiled by Deputy Sports Minister
George Orfanos, some 115 million euros will go towards upgrading all of
the venues, sans OAKA and Karaiskaki. The Votanikos project, meanwhile,
is considered as a self-financed scheme, with the state providing only
the tract of land.

UEFA mandates the inclusion of a 50,000-, two 40,000- and five
30,000-seat venues. Other criteria set by Europe's top football body
are related infrastructure, airports within a close proximity of
venues, adequate hotel space and nearby hospitals.

Greece's bid will be submitted on July 21, with three finalists to be
selected in December. UEFA will announce the winning bid in December
2006.

The government and the country's largest trade union, GSEE, apparently
failed to find common ground on Monday regarding the former's intention
to liberalise the labour market and slash the cost of overtime pay,
following a closely watched same-day meeting between Labour Minister
Panos Panayiotopoulos and the union's leadership.

The minister, in fact, noted that discussions and talks over the issue
cannot last forever, leaving open the possibility that a draft law will
soon be tabled in parliament. He also noted that a national collective
bargaining agreement is still in force, regardless if he hasn't signed
it.

In exiting the meeting, GSEE president Christos Polyzogopoulos said
that no dialogue was possible over demands tabled exclusively by
employers' representatives, and especially not with the threat of
legislation unilaterally changing the labour regime.

The music of world-renowned jazz musicians Glen Miller and Duke
Ellington filled Athens' Herod Atticus Odeon on Sunday and Monday
evening, within the context of the Athens Festival, celebrating its
50th anniversary this year.